Waldorf or Rudolf Steiner education is a unique form of education from preschool through high school, which is based on the view that the human being is a being of body, soul and spirit. The specific methods used in Waldorf schools come from the view that the child develops through a number of basic stages from childhood to adulthood. The Waldorf curriculum is specifically designed to work with the child through these stages of development.

Waldorf education was developed by Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) at the beginning of the 20th century. It is based on Steiner's broader philosophy and teachings, called anthroposophy (literally, wisdom or knowledge of man).

Anthroposophy holds that the human being is fundamentally a spiritual being and that all human beings deserve respect as the embodiment of their spiritual nature. This view is carried into Waldorf education as striving to develop in each child their innate talents and abilities. Waldorf schools operate in a non-discriminatory way, without regard to race, gender, ethnicity, religion or national origin.

Waldorf Education

"Receive the child with reverence, educate the child with love, and send the child forth in freedom."
- Rudolf Steiner, Founder

Waldorf education is now the fastest growing independent educational movement in the world, offering the full range of education for children from 3 to 18 years of age. Waldorf schools, always begun by groups of parents and teachers, are now found in 83 different countries. Each school is autonomous but is linked to all other Waldorf schools through the common vision that this schooling can help children to become free-thinking, socially-responsible, and strong-willed adults.

The first Waldorf school opened in Stuttgart, Germany in 1919. Emil Molt, the owner/director of the local Waldorf Astoria Cigarette Factory, asked Austrian scientist and philosopher, Rudolf Steiner, to establish a school for the children of his employees that would be the ideal education for the times. Steiner took this opportunity to demonstrate how a school curriculum and teaching methods could develop clarity of thought, sensitivity of feeling and strength of will in human beings. The result was Waldorf education.

There are presently 250 Waldorf schools in North America and nearly 1000 Waldorf schools worldwide. The first school in the United States was the Rudolf Steiner School in Manhattan , established in 1928. There are fourteen Waldorf teacher training centers in North America.

Suncoast Waldorf School

Suncoast Waldorf School opened in 1998 in space rented from the Unitarian Universalists of Clearwater. In 2006 the school purchased a building and tree-shaded property at 1857 Curlew Road in Palm Harbor. Now two classroom buildings house Parent/Child Playgroups, a nursery, two kindergartens and grades one through eight.

For seven years prior to 1998, parents and teachers held playgroups, public lectures, workshops and festivals, all to educate the public about the little known, at the time, Waldorf education. Suncoast Waldorf Association formed as a non-profit corporation which later received its tax exempt status.

Families from across the United States and from other countries now find their way to Suncoast Waldorf School in their desire to continue Waldorf education for their children which has begun elsewhere. More and more families in the Tampa Bay area are discovering Waldorf education through the school's web site and are recognizing that this is the education they want for their children.

Suncoast Waldorf School, like virtually all Waldorf schools, is self-administered. Teachers and staff meet weekly to make decisions concerning the social, administrative, and educational life of the school. A Board of Trustees assumes fiduciary, policy and legal responsibility for the school.

The Waldorf Teacher

When a Waldorf teacher meets his first grade class it is the beginning of a remarkable eight year journey with the children. This is unique in Waldorf schools. The advantages of knowing the children thoroughly and growing with them through the years far outweigh any disadvantages of such an arrangement. The relationship of the teacher with his class becomes so deeply founded that the teacher, through development of his powers of observation, knows in any given moment what is needed for any particular child or for the class as a whole. This is living teaching that comes out of a recognition that a child's physiognomy and physical body give clues to what is happening in his inner life of soul and spirit.

The Waldorf Teacher receives special training in the Waldorf philosophy and methodology at any one of a number of training institutes-Antioch University New England in New Hampshire, Rudolf Steiner College in Sacramento, California and Sunbridge College in Spring Valley New York, to name a few. Prominent in this training is the development of artistic skills in singing, playing the wooden flute, painting, drawing, modeling, speech and grace in movement developed through eurythmy. These are the necessary skills that enable the teacher to bring education as an art.

Additionally, teachers engage in a thorough study of child development as informed by Anthroposophy, the world view articulated by Rudolf Steiner. It is this understanding of the human being that enables the teacher to plan each year according to the nature of the growing child, working out of principles of growth that are inherent in each and every child. Teachers also learn to work with each child's temperament to bring about harmony in the class and to reach each child in a way that fully engages him.

Master Waldorf teachers lead the teachers through all aspects of the curriculum from grade one to grade eight, demonstrating how to truly bring education as an art. Any individual who has embarked on this comprehensive training soon realizes that it is an ongoing training for life in self development. Kindergarten and high school training work out of the same human development and artistic foundations, but these trainings are specific to the young child and to the high school student who are in different stages of development.